How to Keep a Sweet Potato for Winter Storage

Sweet potatoes are a funny crop, really a southern plant, and not actually a potato at all. Nor are they related to "yams" grown commonly in tropical countries.

They can be harvested all the way until the vines are frost-killed. However, around here, mice will take too large a toll if the sweet potatoes are left in the ground that long. Also, curing sweet potatoes is easier while we still have some warm days.

After early harvest, if eaten immediately, some varieties of sweet potatoes will be starchy and not sweet. So we usually give them at least a few days before using them. This allows some of the starch to convert to sugars, for the familiar sweet flavor.

Sweet potatoes will usually keep for a month or two with no curing, just kept in a cool/dark place. However, if you want to enjoy them all the way through winter and spring, they must be "cured." When a sweet potato spoils, it generally does so through the nicks in the skin, and where the plant stem broke off. These areas need to form a hard plug or scab, to protect the stored sweet potato from spoilage. To do this, the sweet potatoes should ideally be kept at 85-90 degrees in a well-ventilated spot for 10-15 days. This is not exact, but the more warmth they get during this curing time, the better.

After curing, store sweet potatoes in a cool place (55 degrees or so) but not too dry (75-80% humidity) so they don't shrivel too badly. A "root cellar" is ideal!

Pumpkin Season!

What do you do with a pumpkin ?! (Or any other winter squash, for that matter)

To bake your pie pumpkin, just cut it in half, remove the seeds and strings, and place the halves open-side down in a cake pan, with about 1/2" of water in the pan. Then bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or more, until the flesh of the pumpkin is tender and begins to fall apart. Put the pulp through a bleder or ricer.

At our house, this often gets made into a pumpkin pie filling, which becomes "crust-less pie."

From the Joy of Cooking cookbook: Pumpkin or Squash Pie

Mix until well blended:
2 cups cooked or canned pumpkin or squash
1 1/2 cups undiluted evaporated milk or rich cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg or allspice
1/8 tsp cloves
2 slightly beaten eggs

Pour the mixture into a pie shell or a greased bowl or pan. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degress and bace about 45 minutes longer or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

For a variation, try omitting the milk and substituting 2 Tbsp molasses and 1 1/2 cups sour cream.



Another favorite at our house: Winter Squash Bars (from Simply In Season)

Beat together in a mixing bowl:
2 cups winter squash or pumpkin (cooked, pureed as above)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Mix in:
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Pour into a lightly greast 11 x 17 inch pan. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degress for 25-30 minutes. Mmmm....


And finally, get a copy of Simply In Season cookbook (Herald Press, 2005) and try out their
Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake (p. 219) or their Pumpkin Pecan Pie (p. 217). They sound wonderful !!

THE SEPTEMBER CHICKEN MASSACRE !

OK, well, no, the sky isn't exactly falling, but SOMEthing has reduced our hen population by about 40 birds...! It started with a look at the flock on Friday evening as I was doing chores, and saying to myself, "THAT doesn't look like 90 birds to me." As it was almost dark, and the hens were on their roosts, a quick count came up with only about 48 birds. .... ..... UH-OH. So, we go into "lock-down" mode -- sorry, ladies (addressing the poultry, that is). No more free-ranging until we have a chance to move the birds and their hoophouse closer to the buildings.

Now, the reason the hens have been banished so far from the house in the first place is their known propensity to enjoy the garden entirely too much. I mean, they're welcome to eat all the foxtail seed heads they want. But, they're NOT welcome to peck on the strawberries during September! So, if they move in closer, they'll have to be inside the electro-net fence, a confinement they don't entirely appreciate, nor do they entirely respect it, leading to a daily nuisance of playing "chicken round-up."

What is the prevailing theory? Well, we don't suspect Salmonella contamination of the feed -- contrary to the recent scare involving the "big boys"!!! More likely, a coyote and/or a fox -- or 3. We've never lost this many birds completely unsuspected. Raccoons, possums, skunks, and even stray dogs, all leave their grisly evidence behind, each with its own unique appearance -- "Let's not go there". But we've heard many a tale of foxes grabbing a bird and going off some distance to enjoy the feast. And, our hens really do enjoy poking around in fox heaven, meaning the brush on the south edge of the farm. So it seems pretty likely. And then, there's the "smart farmer" confession that I really think the last "hen count" was probably the day the hens moved back into their rebuilt quarters, which was... well... 3 months ago.....

I'm a little chagrined that just earlier Friday morning I was replaying for our tour group my usual brag on our ace-in-the-hole farm mutt (you all know, Bonzo), and how, no, we really haven't had any problem with losing chickens out 300 yards from the house. Bad brag! I think we made a tactical error, though, in that, between the house/garden and the chicken pasture, we are currently grazing 5 steers, one of whom has recently shown a distinct dislike for the dogs, especially the "little one" (rather hot contempt/disdain might put it better!), and this seems to coincide with a recent distinct lack of presence of the dogs in the pasture near the chicken coop.

Which of course leads back to a recurring theme in the ongoing saga of the Friesens' steep learning curve in this "diversified farm" game. I never cease to be amazed how the various pieces of the farm puzzle interact in fascinating, but often unpleasant and seemingly totally unpredictable (at least "unpredicted") ways. How am I, the confessed newbie, supposed to guess that finishing a steer in the cornfield would result in losing almost 1/2 of the layer flock in another pasture 200 feet away?! Get smarter, I guess. "Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment."

Now the good news: We were debating how to thin down our aging flock of hens, a few still veterans of our move here 3 1/2 years ago. We were semi-seriously considering releasing a bunch of the elder ladies for a last hurrah free-ranging in the back 40, until they became (inevitably) "food for the wildlife." Although.... I don't think the killer in this case was quite as discriminating in sparing the younger hens!
The other good news: I found 3 eggs today from the new pullets just maturing in the barn pen. And, I don't think it's too late yet to carry out our plan to raise a crop of pullets through the fall and winter. All does not appear to be lost -- for the moment!
And, thirdly, this does put the current egg production of about 20/day in a more favorable light, considering the number of remaining birds....

In the meantime, we patrol the now "cooped-up" hoophouse at chore time, trying to be sure a determined attacker hasn't chewed right through the chicken wire in its enthusiasm -- and yes, that is the voice of experience speaking from a few years ago. (That memorable morning we awoke to "the sounds of silence -- complete silence -- from the coop!

Sweet Potato Harvest

The "tuber rescue" has begun... Two weeks ago, Rita harvested a short section of one sweet potato row. Nine days later, she harvested a second section with the volume nearly doubling and signs of mouse-testing which hadn't been present before. On Labor Day, with the help of Miriam and Isaiah, the row was finished along with the partial row next to it. We have two more full rows of Beauregard and one full row of NC Japanese to dig. The vines are still very vigorous so the tubers will continue to grow. The mulching did an excellent job of keeping the weeds under control, so the digging is quite easy. We've included these in shares already and begun to add them to our meals. We enjoy them baked or boiled or fried (haven't pulled out the deep fryer yet, but we will!) and as the base of a dinner roll recipe which we found in Simply in Season:

Sweet Potato Crescent Rolls -- 2 dozen

1½ c whole wheat bread flour
¼ c sugar
1 T active dry yeast
1 t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
½ t ground nutmeg
¼ t ground ginger
¼ t ground allspice
Combine in a large bowl.

1 c sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 c milk
¼ c butter
Combine in large saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring until butter is melted and mixture is warm. Add to flour mixture. Beat with mixer set on low speed, scraping bowl often, until mixture is all moistened, 1-2 minutes.

1 large egg, beaten
Add and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes.

2-2½ c bread flour
Stir in enough flour by hand to make dough easy to handle. Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 709 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turn to grease both sides, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise until doubled in bulk. Punch down dough and divide it in half. Roll each half of dough on lightly foured surface into a 12" circle.

2 T butter, melted
Brush each circle with 1 T butter. Cut into 12 wedges and tightly roll up each wedge from wide end to point. Place crescent rolls, point-side down, on greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled. Bake in preheated oven at 375ºF until golden brown, 10-12 minutes.
Option: Roll each half into rectangle, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Roll like a log, then cut into ½" pieces. Place in 9"x13" pan and cover until doubled. After baking, frost lightly for a tasty cinnamon roll.